You know how it is when you go crazy trying to fix something with software, and then days later someone informs you, “oh yeah it’s a known problem. That’s how it actually works”? Man, I hate it when that happens. So I thought I’d kick off the InCopy Workflow section with two such pesky problems that a number of my InCopy/InDesign clients have asked me about.
Known problem #1: Folios aren’t accurate
Say you start with a 48-page InDesign document using automatic page numbers (folios) on the master pages. You create an Assignment of a few stories on pages 22-23 using the default type of Assignment (Assigned Spreads).
When that 2-page spread assignment is opened in InCopy, the folios on these pages will show 1 and 2 … yes, page 1 will be on the left-hand page of the two-page spread, and page 2 on the right.
For some reason, Assignments put the absolute page number in frames carrying an automatic page number. This is just a display problem in the Assignment and will not affect the actual layout. Tell your editors to just chill about it, if possible.
If they must see the correct folios, either change the Assignment type to “All Spreads” or have them open the actual .indd file in InCopy.
Known problem #2: Gray boxes instead of pictures.
Your editors might see gray boxes instead of images in their Assignments if the original image that’s linked to the image frame isn’t accessible to them. Perhaps you (the designer) placed the image in the layout from an images or art folder on your local computer. When you save/update the assignment on the server (editors open and work with assignments on the server), InCopy on their computer can’t generate the low-res preview of the image, because it can’t find it … their computer has no access to your computer’s hard drive.
The crux of the problem is that Assignments don’t include binary information … what low-res previews are made of. InDesign layout files, on the other hand, do contain these. (That’s why you can see previews of images even if the Links palette reports them as missing.)
The fix is to first put your original images on the server … in a directory your editors can read … before you Place them into a layout. If you’ve already Placed them, move the images to the server and then Relink your images (from the Links palette) to that new location, then update the Assignments.
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on May 25, 2006
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